A biological safety cabinet (also referred to as a “biosafety cabinet” or a “microbiological safety cabinet”) is an enclosed, ventilated laboratory workspace that is used for working safely with articles contaminated with (or potentially contaminated with) pathogens. The primary purpose of a BSC is to serve as a primary means to protect a laboratory worker and the surrounding environment from pathogens.
In general, a BSC includes a chamber for receiving an article. An opening is provided for allowing an individual to access the interior of the chamber. In some embodiments, a door is movable relative to the opening for sealing and unsealing the opening. In other embodiments, gloves are permanently attached to the opening to isolate a user and the surrounding environment from the interior of the chamber while still allowing the user to manipulate the articles in the chamber. One type of BSC is designed such that air is drawn from the chamber of the BSC, passed through a HEPA-filter to remove harmful bacteria and viruses from the air and is returned to the chamber.
It is known to use formaldehyde to decontaminate the BSC between uses in order to reduce the likelihood that pathogens from one article will be passed to other articles during subsequent uses of the BSC. After a BSC is exposed to formaldehyde, the formaldehyde is eliminated, or decomposed, using ammonia bicarbonate. However, ammonia bicarbonate produces a solid residue that must be removed from the cabinet by manual wiping. As such, a user must access the interior of the BSC and manually wipe all the surfaces in the BSC to remove the solid residue. Moreover, formaldehyde is considered a carcinogen. As such, it is desirable to limit the exposure of a user to formaldehyde.
The present invention provides a biological safety cabinet that includes a falling-film evaporator for generating vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) to quickly and safely decontaminate the biological safety cabinet.